Chapter 24

Grace then took a hot bath under Sally’s care and finished grooming perfectly. Sally, who had been informed by Grace that she was going to have dinner with Arthur tonight, worked more enthusiastically to dress up Grace.

Grace finished her make up as she looked at Sally, who carefully inserted a sapphire hair ornament to match her blue dress after finishing her makeup with a focused expression.

“Hey, Sally.”

“Yes? Tell me.”

“Where does Leon live?”

“Prince Leon? The Prince is using the innermost bedroom on the second floor of the annex? But why do you ask that?”

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to go see Leon…..I’m sure he’s very angry with me by now, isn’t he?

“…..What? Oh.”

Sally, who tilted her head for a moment at Grace’s words, soon exclaimed, “Oh!” and said.

“That’s for sure. On the day you stayed in your bedroom without taking a walk, Prince Leon came all the way here and asked me to see you.”

“….Oh, really?”

“Yes, so as you had requested I told him that you did not want to see anyone then, Confucius nodded his head with a timid face and left.”

“….What should I do? Was he really upset?”

That day, Grace listened with a tearful face to Sally’s explanation of Leon’s appearance. Sally then smiled affectionately and gently patted Grace on the shoulder as she replied.

“If the Lady apologizes, he’ll gladly accept it. Prince Leon likes you very much.”

“Really?”

“Of course. I bet you.”

“So believe in yourself.”

Sally patted her with her thick hands.

Grace, a little relieved at the sight, stood up after checking herself in the mirror and said,

“Sally, can you show me where Leon is?”

“Of course.”

Sally nodded and took the lead, as if she had been waiting for the word. Grace followed her with quick steps, recalling Leon’s face. She was worried about how she could make Leon, who was upset by himself, feel better.

***

How long did she walk behind Sally like that? Stopping in front of the blue-roofed annex with high stairs, Sally approached Grace, who was following her.

Grace, with Sally’s help, finally entered the annex after climbing the icy, slippery stairs. When a maid saw them, she hurried up to them and bent down.

“Oh my, aren’t you the duchess? What brings you to the detached house?”

“I’m here to see Leon. Is he in the bedroom now?”

“Oh, no. Prince Leon is over there in his study.”

“I see. Thank you.”

Grace thanked her and walked in the direction she pointed. Then they saw there was a door twice as big as the other rooms on the same floor. Grace pointed at the door and asked Sally.

“Is this his study, Sally?”

“Yes, it is.”

When Sally nodded back, Grace swallowed her dry saliva nervously. When she arrived at Leon’s place, she was nervous about what to do when she saw him. Grace calmed her pounding heart with a light sigh and opened the door.

“…Huh?”

Then, Leon, who was sitting behind a small desk reading a book, covered with bookshelves except for the wall with the large window, looked up at her.

At that moment, Leon and Grace’s eyes met in the air. When Grace found him, she smiled awkwardly at Leon pouting his lips and walked closer to her.

“……Leon, are you busy?”

Leon silently nodded up and down. Grace crouched down in front of Leon and continued.

“……I’m sorry, Leon. I came here when you are busy.”

Then Leon shook his head this time. Grace, holding back her laughter, said after clearing her throat.

“I heard you came to visit me two days ago.”

“I’m so, so sorry I couldn’t take a walk with you that day, Leon. I actually had a reason to do that.”

“…..A reason?”

When Grace apologized with her hands together, Leon, who was staring at her, tilted his head and asked. Grace reached out and gently stroked Leon’s long bangs.

“Yes, that’s why I did it. I’m sorry, Leon.”

“It’s never going to happen again. I promise you… So will you accept my apology?”

Still examining Leon’s sullen expression, Grace carefully asked the child. Then Leon, who was pouting his lips, lowered the corner of his mouth down and snapped over the book he was looking at. Then he ran to Grace, who was bending in front of him, and clung to her, hugging her. Leon murmured as Grace hugged the little body.

“……I thought you didn’t want to see a monster anymore.”

“That can’t be true.”

Grace said, sweeping Leon’s hair in her arms.

The child’s blue and red eyes, which were revealed when his long bangs were pulled back, looked just like Arthur’s, who begged her last night. Grace stroked the child’s face with her hands, feeling indescribable affection.

“There’s no way I wouldn’t want to see such a cute person like you.”

“….Really?”

“Sure. Even if Leon grows taller than me over time, he will always look as cute and lovely to me as he is now.”

Grace smiled a little as she imagined it. Then Leon’s mouth drooped down when he heard that. Leon said to Grace, who was smiling at him, putting strength into his arms that hugged Grace.

“Will you stay with me until…?”

“Huh?”

“Will you stay with me until I grow up to be like my brother?”

“……Leon.”

“You’re not going to leave Leon alone like my father and mother, will you?”

Grace looked down at Leon with a sad look on her face as he asked her with tears in his eyes.

It was a pity that a small child, who was only about five years old, already knew the pain of parting away and was afraid of it.

In addition, considering that the heartbreaking separation made him say that he was an unjustly cursed child, she felt like she was going to burst into a sigh of frustration. Grace replied with a big smile at Leon, who looked up with earnest eyes.

“Yes, I’ll live forever with Leon.”

“…..Really?”

“Sure.”

“……I promise.”

In response, Leon untied Grace’s arm and extended his little finger towards Grace.

Grace looked down at the little finger for a moment and soon carefully wrapped her finger around Leon’s. Afterwards, as she shook his intertwined finger up and down with the child, Leon burst into laughter. Grace gave Leon a quick hug and stood up.

“Then let’s take a walk together later as a token of our reconciliation. I’ll tell them to prepare hot tea and sweet snacks.”

“Why are you saying to do it later, not now?”

“Huh? Leon, you just told me you were busy. Don’t you have to finish studying over there?”

At that remark, Leon’s face suddenly became sullen again. Then Leon, who was shaking his head and wriggling his small hand, replied hesitantly.

“….Actually, I wasn’t busy at all.”

“Huh?”

“I’m sorry I lied.”

Leon apologized in a muffled voice and Grace said, looking kindly at Leon, who clenched his lips.

“You just wanted to whine because you’re upset with me?”

“……Yes, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m more sorry. So, shall we get out of here right now?”

“Yes!”

Fixing Leon’s reply in a very excited voice, she winked at Sally standing by the door.

Sally opened the door of her large study as if she had been waiting, and turned around to prepare snacks as they went outside. Grace followed her and looked down at Leon’s smiling face in her arms.

‘How did I think I could leave such a child behind?’

It takes a lot of responsibility to establish a bond and a relationship. If the other person is a child who desperately needs his or her love, he or she should be more careful in reaching out to him or her.

Grace reflected on her carelessness, recalling the first time she reached out to Leon with a light heart.

‘God, please let me stay healthy with this child and him for a long time.’

Now, as much as she was afraid of the curse and fear of losing her hard-fought life, she was afraid that Arthur and Leon would be hurt again by her. So Grace couldn’t help herself from praying to God. Even if it was something unforgivable.

***

Even the faint light of the crescent moon, which had lost it’s vitality and thinness, was hidden by dark clouds. A magnificent carriage stopped in front of a small villa in the middle of a forest, a little far from the capital.

A man in a robe got out of the carriage. He walked in the dark towards the small villa and knocked on the door.

Then an old man with a bent back opened the door and said standing in front of the door.

“Welcome.”

“Have they all arrived?”

“Yes, they are waiting in the drawing room.”

“Guide me.”

When the man ordered coldly, the old man bowed and slowly turned to the house.

Following him, the man briefly talked. It was deep in the woods and didn’t get much sunlight during the day.

Nevertheless, even if the faint moonlight occasionally arrived into the mansion, with layers of curtains drawn down to enter the house, and the stinky odors of old books stuck in a bookcase, and dust piled so thick that it was hard to breathe in.

The man, who was not displeased with any of this in this house, frowned upon the old man walking before him.

“Let’s have it inside.”

Soon after, the old man stopped at the door of the house’s drawing room and opened the door after confirming that the man was standing next to him. The man glanced at the old man and entered the drawing room.

[T/N: Does anybody have any idea what just happened? Cause I don’t…(ー_ー゛)]

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T/N: I am so sorry for the late update. I am still busy even after my exams ended(٥↼_↼) You know…. My exams ended but my studies didn’t and I am so bad at time managing (╥﹏╥). But I will upload the next chapter soon so stay tuned!!(｡•̀ᴗ-)✧